


Hunks hurting: Hanahaki

by FoxtrotFever



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: F/M, Hunk pining, Pining, hanahaki
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-31
Updated: 2017-08-31
Packaged: 2018-12-22 06:15:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,299
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11961441
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FoxtrotFever/pseuds/FoxtrotFever
Summary: Hunk is pining over Shay after leaving the Balmera.





	Hunks hurting: Hanahaki

It wasn't long after leaving the Balmera that Hunk realised that he'd developed feelings for Shay. It was inevitable, after spending weeks on the planet helping its people and learning more about their culture, he'd grown fond of the planet and its inhabitants; one inhabitant more so than the others.

The pair had spent a fair amount of time together during the paladins stay on the planet, as she'd been the first of the Balmeran's to trust him and the team, she was the one who was more open to talking to them and teaching them about life and culture on their planet, about how the planet was alive and how they were working to revive the last of the energy it had left in its core. And as Hunk had been the first being from another species that didn't show hostility towards her and her planet, Hunk was the one she felt most comfortable going to out of all the paladins. Hence, the two of them became more and more friendly as more time passed.

It killed them when the time came for them to be separated, when Hunk had to leave on the ship to continue with their battle against Zarkon and the Galra empire. Leaving Shay behind was the last thing Hunk wanted to do, especially considering she was the only being (including both his time on earth and his time in space) who he'd felt connected with outside of a friendship way.

Her eyes were as golden as two small suns, and he wouldn't mind going blind if it meant he would get to look in them for the rest of his life.

As much as he loved being here, the universe needed him- Voltron needed him. They couldn't form Voltron without him. The more time he spent here with the Balmerans, growing to enjoy their planet more and more, growing more fond of her daily, there were people out there -whole civilisations and planets- being captured, enslaved or blown up by the Galra. The more time he spent here, the more people died out there. For now, the Balmera was safe. His attention was needed elsewhere, and he was forced to part with his new beloved planet.

Back on the ship, the paladins had resumed their lives on the ships, going back to living the same lives they lived before they'd touched down on the surface of the Balmera. Keith continued his training, Pidge her tinkering, Lance his targeting, the others with their mapping. Hunk, however, was finding it much more difficult getting back into the routine of ship life. He wanted to be back there, but he couldn't, and the thought of that was killing him inside.

It wasn't long after they left that the pain started. It started small in this throat, slowly becoming more painful as the hours passed, the more he coughed, the more raw and scratchy his throat became. It took one full day before the first petal arrived, leaving him hunched over his bathroom sink, a mix of drool and specs of blood splattered across the basin below him, one small crisp petal front and centre. He cleaned up, the blood washing away with water and the petal being disposed of in the bin beside the sink. He knew it would continue to happen, so that's where his petal stash began.

He sat down in his seat in the control room, watching as Shiro, Allura and Coran talked and pointed towards markers on the hologram map they had projected in the centre of the room. They were planning to touch down on another planet within the next few days, a new planet with a new alien species they had yet to encounter, a planet that was not the Balmera.

Days turned to weeks, and weeks turned to months, they had yet to return to the Balmera and fulfil Hunks promise of not leaving Shay and her people behind. They visited countless planets and species, all who praised and rewarded the paladins of Voltron for their freedom from slavery. But no amount of praise could amount to Shays smile when she looked at him. As time continued to pass, Hunk still couldn't manage to get back into the routine of how he lived beforehand. The petals kept coming, with only minimal blood at first as the most of the pain was felt by the choking he did over coughing the petals up. But after the first week the amount of blood began to increase, the pile in his bin becoming larger and larger almost as if he was harvesting from a large lush garden instead of hurling up the plants from inside of him. Eventually leaves began to appear alongside the petals, the occasional stork and thorn too. Hunk didn't want to think of what the inside of his throat looked like, he didn't want to know.

Lance, being his best friend back on earth and still holding the title while in space, picked up on his friends signals pretty early on. The glumness Hunk felt seemed to be felt by Lance through some sort of telepathic bond, and Lance began to try find different ways of distracting the latter boy from his thoughts. He knew what was wrong with his buddy, but they never spoke about it aloud. Lance didn't want to push Hunk to open up to him if he didn't want to, the last thing he wanted to do was make his best friend cry, but he couldn't stand to see him in this state.

His feelings had gradually changed over time; It wasn't like at first when he missed her and wanted to go back immediately, his feelings now consisted more of him being reminded every so often of her by something strange and completely random that seemed to affect none of the other paladins. They finally noticed something was off when Hunk seemed to tear up over a pile of glowing rocks on the last planet they'd been to. Shiro, being the leader of Voltron, had been the first to pull him aside after that to talk. He just wanted to talk, but Hunk didn't want to.

He opted on ignoring the advice of the team leader about opening up to him or someone else on the team, instead choosing to spend his time holed up in the medbay with the Altean books and computers, researching his condition in full detail.

Hanahaki. Being in a state of having feelings which are unreciprocated or unable to act upon.

Hunk hated how much this fit his predicament perfectly; he loved Shay, but they couldn't be together.

Hunk had a decision to make. He either let himself keep pining, allowing the petals and leaves and thorns rip up his insides, hoping that they'd finish their mission to save the universe soon so that he could return to Shay and have the Hanahaki disease cured by them being together. However, if they didn't complete their mission in time and go back to the Balmera for them to be reunited, Hunk would at some point be consumed by the flowers that would stop growing and exiting through his throats and they would grow straight through his lungs and rib cage, slowly killing him in a painful manner. Or, he could go through the procedure to have the source of the flowers removed, having the place inside his heart where the emotions were coming from removed through surgery. The seeds of his emotions for her would be removed alongside the flowers, meaning he'd never feel the same way about Shay ever again. He knew which one he wanted to be the outcome, and he knew which one he had to choose.

Regardless of what he wanted, Hunk made his decision.

**Author's Note:**

> He chooses the second option.
> 
> #sorrynotsorry


End file.
